Chapter Three: The Substitute for Death

Ji Li felt an increasingly intense sense of unease. He felt that something about the funeral procession was wrong, yet he could not quite put his finger on it.

Then, a heart-wrenching scream pierced the air—it came from the group of drunks.

Without hesitation, he sprinted toward the sound. Upon arrival, he saw that of the original three drunks, only two remained. The fat man, who had been the most intoxicated, had vanished without a trace.

Ji Li’s eyelids twitched. He immediately realized that the first victim had claimed their life.

The skinny man and the bleached-blonde youth were utterly distraught, staring blankly at Ji Li and then at the blurred figures of the funeral procession, unable to utter a single word.

Ji Li grabbed the dazed, skinny man and hissed, "What just happened?"

Trembling in terror, the skinny man pointed blankly at the stone wall where Liuzi had been standing. "Liuzi... Liuzi he..."

Irritated, Ji Li shoved him aside and turned to the blonde youth.

The blonde was the most composed of the three. He let out a long breath, cast a wary glance at the fading funeral procession, and whispered, "We were hiding here, waiting for those people to pass. In the blink of an eye—just a turn of the head—Liuzi vanished right where he stood. We still don't know what happened..."

Vanished suddenly...

Ji Li felt a chill run through him. He pressed, "Is that all?"

The blonde, still shaken and unable to make sense of it, stammered, "Before he disappeared, I only heard three words."

"What were they..."

"Is that all?"

"That’s all!"

Ji Li’s face turned grim as he stared at the retreating procession, lost in thought. Liuzi’s death must have triggered the lethal trap. Perhaps what he saw before he died, and that final, incomplete sentence, held a clue. But everything was too blurred to discern.

"It won't be that simple. They will definitely come back to wipe us all out!"

No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the funeral procession, which had already disappeared into the alley, reappeared and began closing in on them rapidly.

The skinny man looked as if he had seen a ghost and tried to bolt, but Ji Li grabbed his wrist, forcibly holding him in place.

"You can't escape. If we stay and find the rules of its killing, we might have a chance at survival!" Ji Li said, his eyes fixed on the approaching procession, emphasizing every word.

"What is 'it'?"

"A ghost."

The skinny man and the blonde exchanged a look and took a step back, staring at Ji Li as if he were a lunatic. Yet, they did not run. Perhaps subconsciously, they realized that among those white-clad figures existed something supernatural.

"When the procession first approached, I kept a close eye on everyone’s movements. Until Liuzi died, I am certain the white-clad figures never made a move. So, perhaps the true anomaly lies with that coffin!"

This was the second encounter between the living and the procession. Ji Li focused his entire attention on the coffin. As the distance closed, he still couldn't detect anything abnormal. At least from the outside, it appeared to be a heavy coffin, clearly containing a corpse.

"Huh? Do you see? Has the weight of the coffin changed?" A cold, slightly puzzled voice from his third personality echoed in his mind.

"Hiss..."

"The ropes on the pallbearers' shoulders have sagged further than before!"

Ji Li’s eyes sharpened as he followed the third personality's observation. Sure enough, as they passed by, the ropes were digging deep into the pallbearers' shoulders, and their footsteps were noticeably heavier than before.

"Where did Liuzi's body go?" The question struck Ji Li, and his thoughts began to race. Generally, supernatural entities didn't act without purpose; every detail was a matter of life and death. If Liuzi died, why did the body disappear? If the coffin had grown heavier, was it possible that it now held both the ghost and Liuzi's corpse?

Watching the coffin draw closer, Ji Li felt a soul-shaking, icy malevolence.

***

Liuzi’s death clearly stemmed from seeing something. Given his position, he had been very close to the coffin.

Ji Li took a sharp breath. Everything abnormal was tied to the coffin.

"In that case, the coffin holds the deepest secret. To find a clue, we must expose it!"

Ji Li’s gaze flickered. In a few moments, the coffin would pass his position. It was one of his few opportunities. Whether opening the coffin was a path to life or death remained unknown, and his repeated brushes with death forced him to tread carefully.

He slowly turned to the two men cowering beside him. To achieve his goal with the least risk, the easiest method was to use those around him.

"Listen, I can tell you plainly: Liuzi was killed by a malevolent spirit inside that coffin!"

The skinny man recoiled, his eyes wide with panic. The blonde, possessing better nerves, struggled for a moment before asking, "What do you mean..."

Ji Li exhaled and said softly, "Everyone in this alley is being targeted. Only by finding the rules of its killing do we have a chance to survive!"

He shifted his focus to the two men, pulled two sharp knives from his pack, and threw them at their feet.

"I’ll give you a choice. If you trust me, pick up the knives. We’ll flip the lid open from all sides simultaneously!"

Silence.

The air hung heavy with confusion and dread.

"No... that's impossible! Even if what you say is true, if the ghost is in there, opening it is suicide!" The skinny man pressed himself against the wall, growling in protest.

Ji Li squinted but said nothing. However, the blonde picked up a knife.

"He's right. Liuzi died for no reason—it's definitely supernatural! At the time of his death, only Liuzi was near the coffin. The source must be there."

The blonde’s composure and logic were, in some ways, on par with Ji Li’s "professional" mindset. Sweating profusely, he gripped the knife and looked at Ji Li. "Are you certain... that if we open the coffin, we'll find the rules of its killing?"

Ji Li nodded heavily, his own hand reaching behind his back to grip his knife handle. He focused on the approaching coffin. Unlike the last time, he smelled something peculiar up close... the scent of death. It was a scent he had experienced before—it originated from himself.

Looking at the swaying, heavy coffin, he was eighty percent sure Liuzi’s body was inside. He answered the blonde’s question with a voice that was soft yet impossibly confident:

"The coffin hides the ghost, but it also hides the rules of its killing. As long as we overcome our fear and master these rules, we can win this time!"

Gripping his knife, Ji Li didn't check on the others; he walked straight to a corner, positioning himself to face the southeast corner of the coffin. The blonde, after a moment's hesitation, moved to parallel him on the left, facing the northeast corner. The skinny man, lacking confidence and trembling as he looked at the expressionless white-clad figures, stood beside the blonde.

Watching this from the corner of his eye, Ji Li’s mouth curled into an inscrutable smile. He said nothing, but the third personality sighed in his mind.

"What you're doing is pushing these two to their deaths... The plan is good; opening the coffin is an effective way to take the initiative, but the risk is immense. To find the rules, one must witness the killing. You used 'courage' and 'survival' to force them into this, just to dilute the probability of you being the target. You've lowered your own risk from one hundred percent to thirty percent..."

The third personality was sharp and had instantly grasped Ji Li's intent.

All sound faded. Both the living and the dead were looking for an opening.

Just then, the coffin arrived. Ji Li gripped his knife, watching it pass, but did not move.

As the coffin reached the three men, he suddenly barked, "Now!"

***

The blonde and the skinny man, as if struck by lightning, instinctively lunged with their knives toward the lid.

But Ji Li did not move.

He had ordered them to act, but he remained a bystander. The third personality had been wrong—Ji Li never intended to participate! He wanted them to open the coffin; if a lethal trap were triggered, it would be them, not him. His own chance of being attacked was zero.

But before their knives could even reach the lid, a dull *creak* sounded from Ji Li’s side.

Before he could process the sound, a blinding reflection hit his eyes. He instinctively squeezed them shut, losing his vision for a split second.

Ji Li’s heart hammered. He realized something was wrong and prepared to flee, but he felt a cold, bone-chilling hand clamp onto his left arm. It felt as if a venomous snake had bitten him, and he lost all strength to resist.

A sudden, immense force pulled him toward the coffin.

He had no time to react, but the skinny man and the blonde, who had been watching closely, saw exactly what happened. The skinny man was paralyzed with terror. He watched as the coffin lid was pushed open from the inside as it passed Ji Li!

Then, something flashed. A bloodless arm shot out and grabbed Ji Li.

The skinny man stumbled back against the wall, but his eyes were uncontrollably drawn to the open coffin. His pupils constricted as he witnessed a sight so horrific it defied reality.

The blonde, unaware of the skinny man’s situation, saw the accident and instinctively grabbed Ji Li’s body, trying to prevent his death.

It happened in half a second. With the blonde’s help, Ji Li finally had a moment to react. He raised his knife and hacked down at his own left wrist!

In a daze, he saw the coffin through the streetlights, though its depths remained pitch black. A hand was reaching out, gripping his wrist like an iron vice. Just as he was about to strike, a blood-curdling scream erupted from the skinny man, followed by a warning of unknown meaning:

"Don't... don't look at it!"

The skinny man was lost.

Just when Ji Li was about to be pulled in, the skinny man became the substitute by some "coincidental" twist of fate.

Ji Li watched as the skinny man was turned into a shadow and dragged into the coffin. A dull *thud* followed. The ghost stopped attacking him, and the lid slammed shut. However, a searing pain shot through his left wrist. He gritted his teeth and looked—the heavy lid was crushing his hand.

Pain flooded his senses, fueling his inner madness. No one paid any mind to the skinny man’s death or his warning.

The coffin continued to move with immense force, dragging Ji Li and the blonde along with it, pinned by his trapped hand. Skin and flesh were torn away as he was dragged across the ground.

His eyes were bloodshot. The knife, held at its limit, descended with a savage force, hacking into his wrist and cutting through the bone!

Severing his own hand to survive!

The sickening sound of bone meeting metal was the only noise in the alley, pushing the tragedy to a new height.

The two remaining survivors slumped by the roadside, drained of all strength, watching the life-consuming coffin fade into the distance with the white-clad figures.

Ji Li was the second person to be attacked, yet he did not die. The price was his left hand, locked inside the coffin along with the skinny man who had "substituted" for him for unknown reasons.